Space tourists and crew suffer high radiation risks – regulation is needed to protect them

Sudden changes in space weather, such as solar flares, for example, could have significant health implications for crew and passengers.

Chris Rees, Postgraduate Researcher of Space Risk Engineering, University of Surrey • conversation
March 18, 2024 ~6 min

How do airplanes fly? An aerospace engineer explains the physics of flight

People have been flying airplanes for well over a century. Engineers know how to balance all the forces at play, but still aren’t exactly sure how some of the physics of flight actually works.

Craig Merrett, Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Clarkson University • conversation
March 18, 2024 ~8 min


Flight MH370 is still missing after ten years – forensic experts explain what we know and why we haven’t found the plane

Despite advanced technology and search techniques the rugged seafloor can hide objects much larger than a plane.

Ruth Morgan, Vice Dean Engineering (Interdisciplinarity Entrepreneurship), Professor of Crime and Forensic Science, UCL • conversation
March 8, 2024 ~6 min

Cerebellum growth was key to how birds first took flight

Evolutionary biologists have answered an enduring question in biology: How did the brains of birds evolve to enable them to fly?

Vanessa Wasta-Johns Hopkins • futurity
Feb. 2, 2024 ~7 min

The surprising reason why insects circle lights at night: They lose track of the sky

A new study shows how artificial light at night scrambles insects’ normal flight patterns, pulling them off course into orbit around the light.

Yash Sondhi, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Entomology, Mcguire Center for Lepidoptera & Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida • conversation
Jan. 30, 2024 ~9 min

Disaster in the Air Narrowly Avoided

VOA Learning English • voa
Jan. 9, 2024 ~6 min

Slo-mo reveals how hummingbirds maneuver through gaps

Hummingbirds use two unique strategies to maneuver through gaps in vegetation, report researchers.

Robert Sanders-UC Berkeley • futurity
Nov. 10, 2023 ~8 min

Specialized training programs using sensory augmentation devices could prevent astronauts from getting disoriented in space

When you’re an astronaut landing on the Moon, you can’t rely on the same gravitational cues we have on Earth. But regimented training with sensory devices could one day prevent spatial disorientation.

Vivekanand Pandey Vimal, Research Scientist, Brandeis University • conversation
Nov. 10, 2023 ~10 min


Battery-free robot microfliers use origami folds to descend

Robot microfliers that can change how they move through the air use origami to snap into a folded position during their descent.

Sarah McQuate-Washington • futurity
Sept. 14, 2023 ~5 min

If anxiety is in my brain, why is my heart pounding? A psychiatrist explains the neuroscience and physiology of fear

Although emotions like fear and anxiety originate in your brain, they ultimately travel through your body and make your heart race and your stomach twist.

Arash Javanbakht, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Wayne State University • conversation
Sept. 5, 2023 ~8 min

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